Clueless Day

I have the time today to sit down and write something, but I have no clue on what to write today. Perhaps I should continue writing reviews for the gadget that I own or food that I tried? But that will require more time than just a night.

Probably start off with a draft first.

Tab and Pen

A tablet and a red pen is what I used to study nowadays.

I grab an article that I’m interested, with my tablet and a red pen, I will start doing my revision. Whenever I found something that I’m not sure, or something that I’m interested, I will just circle it like how we did during our primary times. Instead of using a dictionary, I use my tablet instead to look for more information online regarding the things that I want to know more.

This gives back old memories, reminds me of how we actually learned, word by word, one at a time. The old days, we have to bring a few thick and heavy dictionaries to school. Everyday, our teachers will ask us to look for the vocabularies that we don’t know and then look for the meaning in the dictionary; a very tradition, yet effective way to learn it, the hard way.

Kids nowadays are spoiled. They are allowed to use computerized dictionaries in school, where it was once a luxury item to own during my days and forbidden to bring to school as well. They are allowed to use calculators to solve mathematical questions, causing their brain to function less. Even thou every year the exam results seemed to improve every time, that doesn’t mean the quality of the students improved as well. Exam questions are set easier and easier every year, where a simple way to score is just to memorize the past year answers and you will be able to answer and score

Some people might argue that the education syllabus has gone deeper these days, but that’s a flaw within our education systems. Students are trained to be obedient and to memorize, not to think and challenge. Most of the sdents are unable to think critically and often lost when they face problems or questions that they never practice. No doubt, there are still outstanding ones, but the majority will still belong to the same group of students.

Anyway, back to my topic. I began to adapt this old technique of studying and still find it very effective. The more words that I circle, the more knowledge I gain. Of course, this time, it is not as easy as learning a vocabulary. Instead, I’m learning the whole theory behind every terms and words circled. Read what other people shared; understand it by linking all the things that you don’t understand.

Knowledge is free on the internet, take the opportunity to widen your scope and vision, to absorb more and progress ahead.

Course and Profession

There's an interesting topic going on the radio today. Are you working on a profession that is based on the course that you studied?

Most of the student who just graduated from their tertiary education would prefer to choose a profession that is based on the course that they studied. Well, it's pretty straight forward isn't it? You studied engineering, then you work as an engineer; you studied accounts, then you work as an accountant; you read law, then you work as a lawyer. 

While some profession do follow the rule, such as lawyers and doctors; other jobs may not be the same, especially in business and banking.

Take example of my friends, some of them ventured into professions that is totally different field from what they studied in uni. This doesn't mean that they are not suitable for the job. One shouldn't constrain themselves into just one field of choice. Your previous selection might not be your current selection, your current selection might not be your future selection. 

Confucius once said, the only constant is the world it the world is changing. The world is dynamic, everyday we have different things happening here and there. Same goes to human, what you think during your child age might not be the same during teen age; what you think during study might not be the same as what you think during work.

I love to study engineering, but I do not like to work as an engineer. It doesn't represent my purpose of studying engineering. I like to create new things, but the work of an engineer, generally in Malaysia, doesn't involve innovation. Sometimes I do really doubt, do I really want to become an engineer? After started work, my interest towards business, finance and economy grew stronger and stronger. Every time when I read news or article about these field, I felt very excited. The more I read, the more I need to read. The continuous learning, can drive me to read non stop, even until late night.

Perhaps, I should consider to change field as well. But, is it too late? Hmm..

"Better late, than never.."

Empowering

Empowering. During a team building camp, the instructor showed us a video of a commercial ads used to motivate people. It's an award winning commercial done by PBS. I will let you watch the video below first.

In the video, it describes a gold fish trapped in an aquarium, small aquarium. Everyday it just swims round and round and round, just like us who worked on a routine basis, day by day, doing the same thing in a little company. Then suddenly, the little gold fish realised that something must be done to change after he watch the TV about salmons striving to reach the top of the stream. So it decided to get out from the aquarium, realising it's dream is somewhere out there, to join the salmons. It try hard to find it's way, different ways to get to the place it wished to be. In the progress, it faced many difficulties, it saw how other fishes that are trapped in restaurant aquariums, waiting to be slaughtered for food and almost got itself killed, but luckily, it manged to survive all the challenges and eventually reached the sea/river to join all the other big fishes.

It's a very inspirational video, encouraging people to dream big and step out to reach for their dream. However, this video is like most of the other motivational stories/video/articles, it only shows you the success story. How many other fishes are killed when they are in their progress to find their goals? How many of them are unlucky to get caught in someone else's plate or being crushed by car tyres? Countless.

It's the same like in the animal kingdom, some animals/insects reproduce a lot. In order to survive, they produce many eggs and offspring, when growing up, majority of them will get killed by their predators or mother nature. Eventually only a few managed to survived and continue to mass reproduce for their next generation.

In real life, the situation is not much different. Every year, many graduates are produced by our tertiary education institutions. The little gold fish is like a lucky graduate, finally made it into the sea with all the other big fishes. However, there is something that the video doesn't show, which is how the little gold fish will survive in the big sea. Big fishes will start to prey on it, just like how your seniors or superiors will start to prey on fresh graduates. If he is lucky, then they will be guided by the big fishes. What if the big fish, is not there to guide you, but to eat you? You may not know.

Being in the working society, is like a small gold fish being in the big sea. You have no idea what's waiting ahead for you, and you will have a rough time to explore it yourself. Nevertheless, the video is still a good video to motivate, to help some lost souls to gain their direction.

"A first step is required in order for a change. Decide.."

Work, Me

 Saw this note circulating in facebook about why good employees quit. I will let you do the reading first, if you wish to read my comments then feel free to check out the last part.

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Top 10 Reasons Why Good Employees Quit
By Shel Myeroff

According to the US Department of Labor and Statistics, turnover can cost an organization 33% of an employee’s total compensation including both salary and benefits. But the impact is not only financial it also affects employee morale. Therefore, it would be prudent for hiring managers to focus on reducing turnover rates but in order to do that they must first understand the reasons why employees quit.

There have been many studies and articles written on why good employees leave their current positions. As a veteran search consultant, I have heard an infinite number of reasons first hand. Over the years, I have identified and compiled a list of what I feel are the “Top Ten” reasons why good employees quit:

1) The job was not as expected. All too often the job changes from the original description and what was promised during the interviewing stages. It becomes painfully clear to the new hire that their new company played the bait and switch game which ultimately leads to mistrust. The new hire is now thinking, “What else are they lying about?”

2) Work/Life imbalance. There are times when management demands that one person do the jobs of two or more people. This is especially true when a company downsizes or restructures resulting in longer hours and possible weekend work. Employees are often forced to choose between a personal life and a career.

3) Mismatch between job and new hire. No matter how much you love the candidate, don’t hire them unless they are truly qualified for the job and they mesh with your company culture. Too many times, I’ve seen hiring managers try to fit a square peg into a round hole especially when it comes to a sales position.

4) Management freezes raises and promotions. Money isn’t usually the first reason why people leave an organization but it does rank especially when an employee can find a job earning 20-25% more somewhere else. Make sure your wages are competitive and your benefits package is attractive. Resources like www.salary.com can provide accurate and appropriate information.

5) Feeling undervalued. It’s human nature to want to be recognized and praised for a job well done. And in business, recognizing employees is not simply a nice thing to do but an effective way to communicate your appreciation for their efforts and successes while also reinforcing those actions and behaviors that make a difference in your organization. 

6) Lack of decision-making power. Too many managers micromanage down to the finest detail. Empower your employees and allow them the freedom make suggestions and decisions. I realize that Empowerment is a ‘catch-all’ term for many ideas on employee authority and responsibility; but as a broad definition it means giving employees latitude to do their jobs and placing trust in them.

7) Too little coaching & feedback. Many managers have no clue on how to help employees improve their performance. In addition, many managers put off giving feedback to employees even though they instinctively know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential for growth and in building successful teams and organizations. Your role as a manager is to help your people find the right behavior, not just tell them what to do.

8) Management lacks people skills. Remember that many managers were promoted because they did their first job well, but that doesn’t mean they know how to lead others. People skills can be learned and developed but it really helps if a manager has the natural ability to get along with people and motivate them.

9) Too few growth opportunities. One of the most common reasons employees express for leaving their jobs is lack of challenge and potential for career growth. The most successful employers find ways to help employees develop new skills and responsibilities in their current positions.

10) Loss of faith and confidence in corporate leaders. With employees being asked to do more and more, they see less evidence that they will share in the fruits of their successes. More often than not, when revenues and profits are up, employers are still thinking competitive wages but employees are thinking bonuses, stock options and creative development opportunities.

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Even though I agreed with the majority of the points mentioned, but I do wish to clarify that the whole article above is based on the employee's point of view. Sometimes, we do have to ask ourselves, how good are we? Not everyone is as competent as they think, some people just like to blame and procrastinate about their job, work and life. Often you see employee blamed that the company did not appreciate them as a contributor or as a worker, and seldom they realise that they themselves need to improve themselves too.

From an employer's point of view, different job scope could be due to unforeseen circumstances, such as deviation from project goals or departure of other employees. Of course, I'm not trying to find excuses or cover up for the employer, I'm just stating some possible reasons to refer. When a management freezes raise or promotion, it could be due to decreasing profitability of the company. If a employee is willing to bear the hardship with the company, then the company must never take for granted and avoid compensation when things get better. 

Feeling undervalued could be what drives most of the employees to change their job. While being underpaid is somehow acceptable, being undervalued is not. When someone felt undervalued, it is actually worse than being underpaid, especially for fresh graduates like me. We always want to perform and to prove that we are capable of doing wonderful things, but when our work is not appreciated, it often demotivates us who really put effort whole heartly to accomplish something. Growth opportunity is also a key factor to seek for especially for employee who wish to settle down and secure on one company only. Without growth opportunity is like a place without future where everything will be stagnant and repetitive day by day, and life will be meaningless without challenge.

No doubt there are always some excellent workers in each company, but sometimes a company just does not require such talent and often these talent will choose to leave. If that's the case then the points mentioned above are valid. How about workers that are not as good, mediocre, or simply incompetent? Usually these people will occupy the two extremes, either they will be contented and spend their remaining life pathetically, or they will be the one that complains and bitches the most about the company.

For once I'm the one who always complain and bitch about how the company treats me, but sooner I realised that sometimes both sides have to be responsible. When I just started work, I'm very hardworking and enthusiast-ed, I tried my best to accomplish all my task way ahead schedule and way above expectations. My performance was well acknowledged by my superior but unfortunately not by the company. The company has many rules and standards to follow and at the end of the day, I'm just another standard worker based on their judgement.

So, out of the top 10 reasons, how many of them actually representing how I felt? Let's see, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Wow, there's a lot! After reading about the real world outside, the wildfire in my heart has slowly deminished into a small match stick fire. While still having hope for a good company that appreciates good talent, I'm improving myself in order to get ready when the chance come. 

There's a chinese proverb saying that "a good horse requires a good rider, a good rider requires a good horse".  It simply means that, a good employer and a good employee are mutually important and one cannot exist without another. I think that it makes good sense because both required each other in order to obtain the best out of each other. I'm still looking for my rider.

"complain here and there will not change anything, you have to start the change"

Ice Cream

Ice cream, every body likes ice cream, kids loved it, as long as you don't have sensitive teeth or diabetes, then you definitely love ice cream. The sweet blend of cream, milk, sugar and assorted flavoring definitely will cheer up your day when it melts in your mouth.

I always liked ice cream, but the love gets deeper when I had 12 scoops of Haagen-Dazs ice cream when I first visited Jogoya and tried it. Never in my life I have tasted any premium ice cream and I do admit that the experience in Jogoya is my first time. Even thou the flavours served in Jogoya are rather common, but I still able to differentiate the texture of premium ice cream when compared to normal ice cream that we buy in supermarket.

Maybe it might sound embarrassing that I never tried any premium ice cream before, but it is the fact that I cannot afford to enjoy such luxury due to wallet constraint. Nevertheless, the sensation of tasting better ice cream just keep reappearing in my head. 

Ever since, I always have a strong cravings on and off for ice cream. Having ice cream will definitely bring a different mood to me. Even though I cannot afford to have premium ice cream every time, but I'm satisfied with normal ones despite missing the soft texture of HD ice cream.

Sometimes my colleague and I will just drop by McD drive thru just for a cone of sundae or chocolate top or McFlurry, just to satisfy our cravings. The taste and texture of a sundae cone might not resembles a proper ice cream, but it is what we have for an instant one on the go. Something like a drug addict, satisfied by even just smelling gam.

Vision

I noticed that my productivity is better when I'm alone, I believe this is the case for most people as well.

Recall the days during my uni times where I spent most of my time alone in my room doing things that I want to do, I'm able to concentrate better and focus on what I want to do and what I need to do and often the results are above satisfactory.

Ever since graduated, I have been staying with my family ever since, even after I started my work. Some of my time is delegated to the family where I need to be their driver, follow any family activity, disturbed by various happenings, got scolded for not helping in household chores. I'm not saying that staying at home is bad, actually I'm OK to stay with them as we need to appreciate the people around, their existence around us. The family bond is still the most important thing in one's life.

However, when looking at my progression and planning for my future. Family is seen as an obstacle, no, I should rephrase as challenge, because we need to juggle between work, personal life and family relations. This gradually slows down my pace, causes me to lost focus of my goals.

Perhaps it's time for me to look for something else in my life, to be alone outside for some time, to seek what's my calling that will eventually be my ultimate direction of life, and not just get bind down to my family.

Another Busy Weekend

Been busy for the whole weekend due to dinners and parties, until there's no time to write at all. Actually I have time to write, just that I don't know what to write, and some things are inconvenient to share publicly online. Looks like it's kinda hard to keep up with daily updates, but nevertheless I will try to keep up.

My learning pace is not as fast as my writing pace. Things that I learned everyday is very limited and end up I have nothing much to write. What I can do now is to keep track and remind myself of goals to achieve this week.

Business Minded

I have been reading a lot about business lately, more on how to start off a small business and survive. Read a lot about the insides of running a business instead of the theories and basics of running a business. The reason is, I'm aware that practical hands on knowledge is more useful than the dull and dry theories that the books teach. Even though I do not plan to venture into business anytime soon, but I do have a strong interest to learn about it. I find it very exciting and challenging, at the same time very risky as well.

Learning from people's past experience is way better than reading books, as it gives me a better understanding about the market and the society. Things like business ethnics and the undertable procedures that are on going are not taught in the business text books and have to be learned through real life experience. Having people from the industry to share their experience with you is like getting free money from them. Their experience is very valuable that money is not able to buy.

Working on a daily job might be someone's ideal lifestyle but definitely not for me as I do not like daily routine work. I prefer things that are dynamic and more challenging which changes every day according to the people, things or the society that I work in. Business, finance and investment is able to fulfill the desire within me that I wish to challenge and prove myself that I'm capable of handling it. Instead of blindly venturing into it, I spent a year working as a normal employee, to figure out whether daily employment suits me. Maybe there are some jobs around that fulfills my passion but it takes opportunity to seek for one. 

Money is essential for survival. Everyday, everywhere, people tend to find ways to make money. Whether they earn it through their hardwork, working for other people, or they invest in things that they find profitable. Some people with the courage and capital, will try to venture into the business world, be it at a smaller scale or at a multi-million project. Eventually, some will be successful, while others will perish under poor management and planning. Business is not as easy as some people thought, somebody might have been lucky that their business goes well, some might not. Besides luck, proper knowledge and planning is very important, the entry plan, the exit plan, how the company progress, how the business sustain. At the end, it's all about sustaining and maintaining it. Many businesses failed not because they do not have good idea, they failed because they might have poor planning, poor management or bad cash flow.

The ways that people manage their business is different and it is an endless process to learn about. Endless learning, is what I seek for as a job, be it self-employed, or employed. If I'm able to learn progressively while applying, I will be glad to stay and work. However, when things halted and all I do is just plain application, I will start to feel bored and dull and passion fades away.

My current new interest is all about business, finance, management, investment and marketing. Any of these field makes me feel excited to learn about and if possible, to work in. The best way to learn is to get involve in it, but at the mean time, I will just continue my learning through readings and observations. Any article, book or website that has information of the sectors mentioned above will definitely be my priority. Just to start off, I will start reading materials that are available from home. This week and next week, I will try to complete a book.

[Review]Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 Non-VC

Disclaimer: This is not a professional review and all the findings and opinions below are based on my own experience. For full technical review, pleases visit:

http://www.tamronlensreview.com/tamron1750review

Preface

It has been a year since I bought my Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 Non-VC and it has served me well over the time. I would like to share some personal views on this bang-for-buck lens that has been attached to my camera body more than any other lenses I currently owned.

Specification

First of all, this article is more towards sharing than a technical review. Nevertheless, I will run down some specifications for those who have no clue.

Official Name:

Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD Aspherical (IF)

Features:
SP – Better build quality compared to standard Tamron lens

AF – Auto Focus

Di-II – Specially made for cropped sensor DSLR. Similar to EF-S for CANON, DX for NIKON

LD – Low Dispersion Glass to reduce chromatic aberration

Aspherical  – To minimize aberration and distortion.

IF – Internal Focusing. Front element will not rotate, good for filters mounted on lens.

Technical Specifications
Groups / Elements	13 / 16
Angle of View	78°45′-31°11′
Number of Blade Diaphragm	7
Minimum Aperture	f/32
Minimum Focusing Distance	0.27m
Filter Thread	67mm
Weight	430g
Dimension (Diameter x Length)	ø74.0 x 81.7mm
Macro Magnification Ratio	1:4.5 (at f = 50mm MFD 0.27m)

Do note that there’s another version of Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 in the market, which is the VC version. The VC stands for Vibration Compensation, it has the same meaning as IS for Canon, VR for Nikon or any other nomenclature that other manufactures name for their stabilizing function.

The Selection

There are a few reasons for me to choose the non-VC version instead of the VC version.

First, the ring diameter. The ring diameter of the non-VC version is 67mm while the VS version is slightly bigger at 72mm. I choose the non-VC version is because my Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 has the same ring size, which enables my filters to be used on both lenses instead of getting a new set of filters.

Second will be the sharpness. It is said that the non-VC version is sharper than the VC version due to the lesser amount of elements that will, or might affect the overall IQ. However, I personally didn’t compare side by side and most of the normal users said it is negligible. Hence I remained neutral on this, while believing that the non-VC should be sharper theoretically.

Third will be the price factor. Even thou the differentiation between the non-VC and VC version is around RM300, it is still part of my budget spending, not an investment as I don’t earn from my photography. Every penny saved, can be used to fund for other accessories.

The first and third reasons are the key factor for me to decide that I will go ahead for a non-VC version and hence I started to hunt for the lens online, hoping to get a great deal. Eventually there was a good deal after a month of hunting and tracking. I was able to get an offer way cheaper than retail price, and cheaper than market price too! Without hesitation I contacted the seller to confirm of stock availability and his shop location to reserve for it.

Even with all the great reviews online, most third party lens manufactures do face a same problem, which is the focusing issue. Front Focusing or Back Focusing, i.e. FF/BF issue is very common for third party lens manufacturers including Tamron and therefore, finding a good lens copy is like finding a gem in a pile of stones.

After saying hi to the shop owner, I request to test the lens and the owner also kindly agrees. Aware of the FF/BF issue, I took extra precaution in choosing a good copy. I took my own sweet time testing the lens, and even brought my own focus chart to test on it. The things that I looked for when testing this lens are focusing, sharpness, build, dust, colour reproduction, and MADE IN JAPAN.

The first copy I tested was a lemon copy, the focusing was off and back-focused. Disappointed with the first copy, I request for a second copy to try. The owner was kind enough to get another copy for me to try and this one turns out to be better. The focus is on, and the image is sharp as well. However, the colour reproduction tends to offset slightly to the green side, producing a green tint on white surfaces. Not sure whether it is the lens problem or the white balance problem or the flickering from the fluorescent lamp installed in the shop, I swapped the previous copy and snap the same spot again and it appears alright. Hence, there must be something wrong with the second copy as well.

Frustrated, I asked whether he has another copy to let me try and the owner said the remaining stock is in the store room where he has to go and collect for me. The third copy he handed over to me is the gem that I’m looking for, focus is on and image sharp, colour is alright and nothing is wrong. After giving it another few shots, I decided to buy the third copy.

I paid a three-digit number to the seller. This price, is way cheaper than retail price, much cheaper than market price, and also cheaper than import set. Even the second hand value for this lens is not as cheap as the price I paid for a new copy.

Yes, it is new because everything looks new and smells new. And yes, you probably guess it right, it is an import set as well, with minimal warranty bear by the shop. After paying for the lens, I asked the seller “Why don’t you sell it at normal import set price?” He said the market is very competitive, and he just brought in a few units and sell very cheap just to share with the photography community. He do sell the original copies if I want the warranties from local distributors, but a good copy is what I need. As I know lenses seldom fail if it’s able to go thru the first few months of shooting.

Real Life Experience

I brought it out for a test run at night at a fun fair to see how it performed compared to my other lenses. First thing you will notice is the noise from the focusing motor, which is a very high pitch motor noise, similar to those cheap electric motors that you used in your school experiments. I’m aware of this before I purchase and has no issues with it as long as it gives me outstanding image quality. At the end of the day, I’m producing photos, not videos anyway. The little pitchy noise annoys me a bit at the beginning, but started to get used to it after some time. It gives me the indication that the lens is focusing. Try avoid using it in quiet indoors if you do not want strangers to look at you like as if you’re a robot with camera.

Second thing you will notice that the colour produced is different from my standard Canon lenses. Usually I will shoot in Portrait Picture Style when using Canon lenses, with Tamron, I find that using Standard Picture Style gives the best colours. As soon as I changed the Picture Style, the advantage of this Tamron lens starts to shine. The colours are saturated even without CPL, the pop out colours made the scene at the fun fair appear to be more colourful.

All the good thing about this Tamron 17-50mm lens starts to show up one by one. The constant aperture along the focal lengths gives me advantage when using Av mode where I do not need to worry about the shutter changes and the DOF changes. The big aperture gives advantage to shoot in dimmer lighting areas where the kit lens will suffer two-stops at the tele-end of the lens.

All the constraints that I faced with my previous kit lens were eliminated instantly and it is a whole new experience to shoot with a better glass. The image is so sharp even at wide open that I don’t even bother to use my kitlens anymore. The soft images that my kit lens produce always turns me off from taking photo as I thought it was my problem with the soft images. Dropping down the f-number will result in slower shutter speeds, which I have problem handling in low light places. Besides, dropping down the aperture will increase the DOF and my whole photo will become messy with all the backgrounds interfering with my subject. Using a prime can create the bokeh effect but the fixed focal length constraints me when I need a wider angle to fit in the scene. All these problems were overcome by using this lens. This indeed is one of my best purchase and definitely worth the price paid.

Another thing I liked about this lens is its short MFC (Minimum Focus Distance). Standard Canon lenses have MFD of 45cm or above, giving me problem when I want to snap something close up such as flower and food. The Tamron gives an outstanding 27cm MFD, which is not as close as macro lenses but much better than my kit lens. The short MFD advantage enables me to shoot close up objects without going too far away from it and eliminates the need of cropping the image for better framing in post processing.

Closer MFD also means that I can snap the object with a shorter focus distance, hence creating narrower DOF. At 50mm, F2.8, 27cm, the DOF is narrower than 50mm, F1.8, 45cm. It also creates a larger magnification than my kit lens. The close MFD always comes in handy whether you are aware of it or not. Before I bought this lens, I always need to use my 50mm F1.8 prime lens for food shots because the aperture on my kit lens are not able to give me desirable shutter speed under dim conditions in restaurants. The 45cm MFD always caused me to lean backwards in order to let the camera to focus on my subject, and by going backwards, my framing is off, more background will come in to the picture and distracting my subject. I really appreciate the short MFD that my Tamron provide, hence that is one of the reasons why it is attached on my camera body more than my other lenses.

There is also a lock to prevent zoom creep which my Canon 18-135mm suffers the most. Whenever I hang my camera around my shoulder, the lens will slowly extrude as I walk and eventually it will reach the 135mm mark, which is known as zoom creep. The Tamron’s zoom ring is stiff enough to prevent zoom creep but better stlll with a zoom lock provided to further secure the zoom position when not in use.

This Tamron has been following me everywhere ever since, up the hill, down the beach, weddings, company/family events, camps, parties, under the rain and it never failed to amaze me with its performance. The only complain I have for it will be the focus noise and focus speed, but for a still shooter like me, focus speed is not really a concern as it is fast enough for my casual use and I seldom shoot fast action subjects. Landscape and food is my favourite genre of photography and there are sample pictures taken by this Tamron in my blog.

After a year of abuse, my Tamron still goes strong. I did not attach any filters on it except when I need to use CPL, ND or GND filters and most of the time I left it naked without any filters. Some people asked me why I did not attach any filter, aren’t you afraid of scratches? To answer that, I’m not willing to sacrifice the optical quality that the Tamron provide with cheap filters, good filters cost a lot and I don’t have the budget for one. 

What I can do is I will try my best to protect the lens and will use the lens hood as a shield instead for extreme shootings. It has been a year since and my lens is well kept and taken care. No scratches on the lens element, except for some dust in the lens, which do not affect the image quality anyway. However, I do notice that my zoom ring is a bit loose now due to my abuse during a photoshoot for a charity camp. Nevertheless, it doesn’t affect the performance of the lens and I’m still able to use it as usual, just need to be extra careful with it.

I have seen professional photographers who don’t even bother to use the lens cap and simply keep their lenses in their box or bags uncovered, and yet the photos they took are amazing. This gave me an impression where over specifying and blind following will only constraint one’s photography sense. I often see many new photographers, or should I rephrase, people with expensive cameras, are always on an upgrade route because they felt that their photos are lacking in quality because of the equipment constraints, and also because they have the money to burn. They often over pampered their equipment as if it is a very delicate item, and when their photos came out not as good as expected, they will start to doubt on the equipment, not their skills.

Hence they will try their best to upgrade their equipment, follow blindly on guides and reference without any understanding of it. Everyone has a different eye, and photography is for one to discover, not to follow blindly on what other people produced. For once I was also one of them who taught that I need uber sharp lens and better camera body with all the expensive gears and accessories. However, this little Tamron taught me that simple and cheap lens like this can do a lot better, with the one behind the camera knows how to appreciate things that he sees through the viewfinder. I have stopped my upgrade route ever since and start learning on how to maximize the potential with the current gears I owned.

Wrap Up

Well, after all have been said, it is clearly shown that how much I like my Tamron. Even thou there are competitor models such as Sigma 18-50mm, Canon 17-55mm, Nikon 17-55mm etc etc, but none of those are able to beat the price vs performance ratio of this Tamron 17-50mm F2.8. For beginners who wish to have a good walkabout lens that is light, solid, fast and sharp, this Tamron lens will not be wrong, as long as you don’t get a lemon copy. The downside will be the focus sound and focus speed but if you live with it, then I will definitely recommend this for starters to venture into the world of photography.

Advantages

Sharp from center to corner

Fast (f2.8)

Constant Aperture

Light (430g)

Short MFD (27cm)

Min. Aperture (F32)

Cheap

Low Distortion

Minimum CA

Saturate colours

Solid Build, metal mount

Cheaper filters (67mm ring diameter)

Nice bokeh with 7 blades

Disadvantages

Noisy focusing motor

Average focus speed

No weather sealing

Sample Pictures

 

Water Football

Playing football in the rain, good taims..

Had a football (futsal) practice session after work yesterday, nice cool weather to play with clouds blocking the evening sun rays. However, not long after that, rain drops start to fall and all of us were soaked wet. Decided to carry on, everyone enjoyed a match of water football.

The last time I played football in the rain was in secondary school. Sometimes after class or after scouts, a few of us will gather and play football on the grass in the school compound. Once a while we will play in the rain, enjoying the trill of having fun in the rain.

Everyone was having fun while other people looking at us as if we are a bunch of maniacs. We played till the rain stops and none of us felt tired even after the long down pour and cold breeze.

In the rain, makes me feel young again.

Daily Updates

I have skipped two days of blog entry due to busy weekend and lazy attitude, so I have to come up with three entries for today, which one of them is published just now.

Sometimes I asked myself, why do I need to start to force myself to update my blog daily? It’s not like its very important, or I have many readers. In fact, no one gives a shit about what I write here and probably nobody even knows the existence of this blog. However, when I think that, If I can’t even update a simple blog daily, how am I suppose to manage my daily life, daily task or perhaps daily business in the future? Hence, I’m taking this chance to train myself, to be consistent about what I want to do.

Even a little bit, helps training myself, and my mentality, to stay consistent, and keep to my goals ahead. Will start off with normal entries with simple thoughts, while planning ahead on what should I achieve or learn in the coming days.

This entry is for yesterday. 12 March, Monday.

Weekends

Busy weekend. This post supposed to be the post for Sunday as I set the target to update daily if possible. I'm already two days off my schedule, and have no choice but to put up a blank post to mark down the date, just to remind myself I have pending items to do.

Saturday was busy and a whole chunk of my time was allocated for the badminton tournament, which end up badly for my team. Resting at night, I barely touch anything that I initially planned to do. Laziness struck me again.

Sunday, today I have to accompany my mum for shopping as she has been staying at home for too long. It’s time to bring her out for a walk and hence there goes my time. My morning was spend in Tesco, shopping for groceries while the evening was spend in The Curve, doing shopping and dinner.

The gap in between Tesco and The Curve, is filled by my laziness again. Doing some light reading, watching TV and casual online while waiting to go out again in the evening. It has been some time since I last came to The Curve, they have changed their parking rates too, effective January 2012.

Mum and sis were busy visiting boutiques and stores while I went to some book stores to see whether there are books that I’m interested. Found some books about management, finance and marketing with appealing title and content, but not so appealing price tag. It seems like I still have to stick to Uncle Google for the materials that I need.

I used to see Citibank banners and posters everywhere while walking along The Street, now they are all replaced by OCBC’s banners and posters, with their offer for 20% dining at The Curve. Looks like it’s the opportunity for me to use my credit card to treat my family a dinner here at The Curve. Brought them for dinner, and received my rebate notification via sms the next day.

This is the first time I really enjoy the benefit of having a credit card, alongside with the usual RM50 rebates monthly.

A busy weekend, and yet another busy weekend ahead.

Badminton day

Today I had a badminton tournament, it has been awhile since I last played badminton. Since second year of uni to be honest.

It was a group tournament, something like thomas cup where the group scores counts more than individual matches.

My first match was a tough one because i'm the last pair of my group and we are even out at 2-2 by that time.

Being at such pressurized state, I began to lose some controls because I know i'm far from the playing form I used to have in uni, which is not that good that time anyway. But at least is much better than now, furthermore my stamina has been lacking since i'm a lazy guy at sport.

Anyway, that's not the main thing I wish to highlight. It's the mental pressure that I faced during that match. I believe everyone suffers from mental presure especially when it comes to things that you are not confident at.

Giving that i'm always confident at doing my stuff, sometimes I do face situations where I'll fear and afraid. And whenever such feeling comes, I'll lose my grip and everything went haywire. Similar situation happened before, which triggers my awareness that, i'm not invincible. I do have flaws and I do have weaknesses, everyone has, in fact. Whether you have more, or you have less.

The thing is, how to overcome your fears. Sometimes the lack of confidence pull you down from your normal state and cause you to perform worse than usual.

I lost my grip during my first match, I missed too many chances where I should score. Even thou my opponents are not that strong, the weak in myself amplifies under the pressure to perform, to score, and to nail it. Eventually we lost the match as expected. Realizing I can actually perform better during that match and maybe even winning it.

This situation is like a deja vu to me where I faced the same situation in the incident I mentioned earlier. It's not that I cannot perform, it's the desire in me that pulls me down from what I really good at. My stress handling has become so weak that I don't even realize it. It's all because of my slacking, my ignorance to self improve. Contended to what I achieved for my academic goal, I felt that I were good.

Realizing the fact that this feeling is haunting me again, I regain myself for my next round.

This time, our opponents are much stronger than previous team. However, because I have my mind set still before the match, I'm able to minimize my mistakes and regain some performance that I lost during the first match.

This clearly shows that, the mindset is very important to determine the outcome. It's normal when dealing simple tasks but when decision making or pressurized situation, the mindset is very important. I will always keep this in mind, and not forgetting to self improve.

A badminton match, different situation, but same theory applies.

Update: Some what related, but just for share.

 

 Source:  TED - Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work

credits & copyrights of TED

Chilling

Today is a chilling day.
The cold weather from the heavy rain last night,
was carried forward today.

Today's progress is slow,
need to keep on going tomorrow.

Signing off.

A blog a day..

A blog a day, keeps my laziness away..
I will try to blog everyday, from today.
As a habit, not to blog, but to keep it going.
To remind myself, I have my goals ahead.

I have been slacking a lot since start of work.
Laziness has bitten into my bones and became part of it.
Because I felt that I'm best at what I'm doing;
I'm better than anyone else in my company, made me stop to improve myself.
Arrogance, I would say.

Another reason is lack of motivation.

I start to slack, procrastinate.
Always think that it's not worth giving more,
since they will not appreciate.
Demotivated, I would say.

So, I slow my pace.
I remain stagnant;
I remain confident;
I still think that, I'm at my best.
Slowly I realise, I'm actually downgrading.
Rotting as time pass by.

A recent incident woke me up.
Hitting me hard, bringing me down to earth.
I then realised, what I have missed for the pass year.
Wasted my precious time, doing things that doesn't benefit.
Stupid, I would say.

Since then, I replan my whole future vision.
I start reading and researching ways to upgrade myself.
The enthusiasm and passion I long lost,
 revived again..

Catching up in progress

There are so many things to share, yet so little time to compile. I have photos, reviews, personal feelings to blog about, but I also have many personal things to do too.

Hmm.. Which to start off?

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

Sorry for abandoning you for so long. There's so much work to do and so little time to rest. I will settle my outstanding work a.s.a.p. and resume blogging soon. There's so much I wanna tell you. so many photos and gadgets to share until I have lost count of it. Give me some time, and I will return for you.

Loves,
Your Owner